AsianScientist (May 29, 2011) – Researchers at Waikato Hospital and Waikato University in New Zealand have discovered that severe vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher risk of death among pneumonia patients.
Dr. Leong Leow and colleagues, whose study was published in the journal Respirology, measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels among 112 patients diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia at Waikato Hospital during winter in 2008.
The researchers discovered that severe 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency, which was found among 15 percent of patients, was associated with a higher 30-day mortality compared with patients with sufficient and mildly deficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels.
Vitamin D, which is produced by the skin when exposed to sunlight, regulates the production of certain antimicrobial peptides that play an important role in fighting infection. The investigators hypothesized that a lack of vitamin D would lead to lower levels of these peptides and would therefore be correlated with worse clinical outcomes.
However, although the researchers found that 30-day mortality was correlated with lower vitamin D levels, they did not find a correlation with antimicrobial peptide levels.
Leow and colleagues highlight in the study that they did not establish a causal link between vitamin D deficiency and mortality in the patients. The researchers state that it may be possible that low vitamin D levels “are simply serum markers of frailty and poor prognosis”.
Although the study did not uncover the specific mechanisms that link vitamin D deficiency to higher mortality, it does indicate that measuring vitamin D levels may have prognostic value in patients with severe microbial infections.
Further work should also be done to explore the therapeutic potential of vitamin D supplements in acute infections, state the researchers in their study.
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Source: Waikato University.
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